After spending the last few weeks on the road, the High Point University men's basketball team made the best of their homecoming scoring a 71-63 win over Big South rival Coastal Carolina on Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd at the Millis Athletic Center.
The Panthers improved to 18-8 overall and 8-2 in the Big South with the victory. HPU swept the regular season meetings with the Chanticleers (13-12, 6-5 Big South) and now hold a three game lead for second in the league standings. High Point also moved to 12-1 at home this season.
Junior Arizona Reid scored 20 points to lead High Point with freshman Eugene Harris (11) and senior Landon Quick (10) also chipping in double digits. Freshman Cruz Daniels played on of his best games of the season pulling down a career best 12 rebounds while scoring eight points and recording three blocked shots.
Joshua Mack paced Coastal finishing with 16 points, including 13 in the second half, with four three-pointers. Jack Leasure scored 15 points and Moses Sonko had 14 for the Chants. Joseph Harris grabbed nine rebounds to top CCU on the glass.
Coastal Carolina jumped in front 10-4 just four minutes into the game. HPU battled back using an 8-0 run to earn their first lead, 15-13, at the 11:20 mark. Harris drilled a pair three-pointers around a Jerald Minnis lay-up during the stretch.
Minutes later, High Point tallied a 9-2 surge to push in front by seven points, 24-17, with five minutes remaining in the opening stanza. The Chanticleers closed the gap to three but a 9-3 closing run by the Panthers sent them into the break with a 33-24 lead.
HPU grabbed a double-digit edge early in the second half leading by as much as 21 points, 53-32, following a lay-up by Reid at the 10:38 mark. Coastal made a late charge out-scoring High Point 11-2 over a five-minute span to close their deficit to just eight points at 59-51 with 5:28 left on the clock.
Mack connected on his fourth triple of the game with 2:29 remaining to pull the Chants to within five at 63-58, but the would get no closer as the Panthers made the necessary free throws down the stretch to earn the victory.
"For 35 minutes tonight, we played like a championship team," said HPU head coach Bart Lundy. "We lost our focus during a five-minute stretch, but were able to keep grinding and got an important victory. I thought Cruz (Daniels) was outstanding tonight and really made an impact on both ends of the floor. I also felt like Eugene (Harris) hit some big shots for us early in the game."
High Point's next game comes on Wednesday night when the Panthers travel to in-state Big South rival UNC Asheville for a Valentine's Day battle at the Justice Center.
